The left loves to endlessly sound off about Tory and Reform donors. But the Labour government is in hock to its union paymasters and is doing their bidding when it comes to donations…
Angela Rayner’s Employment Rights Bill is slowly making its way through Parliament (even though she was hilariously just chucked out of her own union). Clause 77 of the Bill includes measures to help unions hide their annual expenditure – especially that made by ‘political funds’, which are union accounts used to funnel member subscription money to the Labour Party and a host of lefty campaigns. The Bill means this spending will no longer be included in the published annual returns of trade unions. As Tory peer Lord Leigh of Hurley put it during a debate yesterday:
“It also allows me to explain to him another payment from the Unite political fund, which he may not be aware of, to the Marx Memorial Library. I kid you not—you could not make it up. I am sure the members of Unite are thrilled to know that their hard-earned wages are going to support the Marx Memorial Library, but when the Bill becomes an Act, in a matter of months, they will no longer have the right to see that disbursement.”
Other donations that would be hidden include doling out cash to hard left groups like the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. In both the Commons and the Lords, the Labour benches are packed to the rafters with current union members and former union officials. If Rayner’s secret cash route survives, will she be let back into Unite?
Wes Streeting and Labour ministers have been pleading with junior doctors in the BMA to not strike over pay this summer. Meanwhile Unite is raging at the “insultingly low” 3.6% pay offer its NHS staff have got from the government and today said it will ballot them for strike action. Back for more…
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:
“The Government’s answer is a substandard award that is below inflation and is an insult to NHS staff. This offer does nothing to address low pay in the NHS, which hovers perilously close to the legal minimum. How can this possibly be fair or begin to improve staffing in the NHS?”
NHS workers in England will vote on 16 June, while NHS workers in Wales will vote on 9 June. Summer of discontent inbound…
Civil Service union PCS’ general secretary Fran Heathcote is already rattling the sabre despite Labour handing out inflation-busting pay rises of 3.25% for senior civil servants. In an interview with Civil Service World, Heathcote moaned that Labour is “not better” than the “abhorrent, right-wing Tory rule”, making it clear that the unions will keep asking for more:
“The big issues for us are pay, jobs and job security and, to some extent, hybrid working and flexible working. All of those will be high on our agenda.”
As of this month Heathcote’s allies have secured a majority on the union’s National Executive Committee allowing them to push through more extreme positions. She said she is “hopeful” that Labour will fold under pressure to their demands once again:
“They can meet us as much as they like, but if at the same time they’re then making announcements attacking our members or announcing large-scale cuts, then that’s not so helpful.”
Less surprising is that Heathcote is along with other union bosses frothing at the mouth for Rayner’s “transformational” Employment Rights Bill – essentially a union wish list wrapped in parliamentary paper. Exactly what small businesses have warned about…
She said:
“On the face of it, the employment rights bill is transformational. We want to put pressure on them now to implement what, if fully implemented, will be a transformational situation for our members, whether it’s minimum service levels bills, anti-trade union legislation, bereavement leave, or maternity pay. All of that’s good, but it’s got to now come in and not get watered down.”
Now wonder Labour accidentally called it the Employment Rights ‘Union’ Bill. Expect a summer of strike ballots come cuts in the June spending review…
As the Birmingham bin strike rolls into its eighth week over 700 Ofgem civil servants are being balloted over potential strike action today. Civil Service union PCS has accused management of being “deliberately provocative” on pay and job security – with a third of the workforce voting on whether to strike today. Walkouts could drag on until 12 June…
PCS is also rattling sabres at HM Land Registry and the ONS, fuming over what they brand a “Victorian” push to get staff back into the office. Last week Labour caved in to PCS demands of bumper pay rises for Foreign Office security staff after months of industrial action. Meanwhile, Unite’s national lead officer Onay Kasab warns: “If other local authorities look to cut the pay of essential public service workers, then there is the potential for strike action spreading”. Summer of discontent inbound…
Rayner’s Employments Rights Bill is set to make matters worse, strengthening union’s powers by allowing them to force pay demands on companies with as little as 2% union membership, down from 10%. Visit Britain in the 70s – time machine no longer needed…
It’s yet another win for the unions in Labour’s Britain. After months of strike action stretching from October to February, Foreign Office security staff have walked away with a whopping 13% pay rise. More than double the average pay rise for the private sector last year of 5.6%…
Civil service union PCS had pressed pause on strike action by outsourced security staff at OCS, ISS and G4S across key departments last month – including the Cabinet Office, No10, FCDO, DBT, and DSIT – as “intensive talks” kicked off. Foreign Office G4S staff managed to bag a bumper pay rise…
GMB’s regional organiser Andre Marques was quick to gloat: “This is a great win for security guards on the FCDO contract.” Some staff were apparently on minimum wage before the rise, so naturally the unions spun it as a matter of “fairness and dignity.” Now with one victory under their belts, the unions will no doubt continue to push for more across the other departments. Cutting back blob spend unsurprisingly proving fruitless when the unions have Labour firmly over a barrel…
It seems even the unions are feeling the pinch of Labour’s economic mismanagement. The Trade Union Congress (TUC) – which represents 48 member unions – has just informed its staff of an upcoming round of redundancies. Around 40 out of their 100 full-time equivalent staff are being shown the door by the end of the year. That’s well over a third of the workforce. Who knew that championing workers’ rights meant trimming your own…
The TUC senior leadership team insist this is part of a “recovery and growth” plan, saying:
“The TUC is facing a redundancy situation due to a need to position ourselves for recovery and future growth, by removing duplications and consolidating our resources to optimise efficiency and cost effectiveness. As well as adjusting our approach to the delivery of some key business services”.
Though Guido hears that the real explanation behind the TUC’s coffers running dry is the sharp decline in union memberships, coupled with a spike in political fund contributions to Labour ahead of the general election. They’re hoping Rayner’s ‘Union’ Employment Rights Bill will eventually plug the gap, which will scrap the 10-year ballot for political funds instead reminding members every decade that they can opt out. Time to dip into the solidarity fund…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”